News for September 9, 1999

Contracts and Transfers

* Fernando Escartin and Angel Luis Casero will be riding with Festina next
year. Festina have said that they intend to remain in the sport for the
indefinite future and wants to build a strong team to contest the major
tours.

* Team Polti have shown further interest in Dutch sprinter Jeroen Blijlevens.
Team manager Vittorio Algeri talked to him after the third stage of the Vuelta.
Blijlevens has not yet decided on where he wants to race next year. He has
only said that he is interested in riding for a foreign team. Algeri said:
"Our manager Stanga has already spoken to Blijlevens. He has talked some
terms. He is a good sprinter and would be a good purchase for any top team."

* Newcomer Stefan Schreck will ride for Team Telecom-ARD for the next two years.
The 21-year old professional will begin his time with the German team on January
1. "Schrecki" (his nickname) has won the "Thüringen-Rundfahrt" last season with
the TEAG-Köstritzer team from Thüringen. He is the biggest German hope among several
bright prospects. He was the best new rider at the "Friedensfahrt" and he won the
Under-23 race held in conjunction with the "Rund um den Henninger Turm" this year.

* Belgium cycling team Lotto is still waiting to sign a cosponsor for next year.
They have not committed themselves with Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke for next season
as yet while they wait to secure another financial backer. What has happened
to the 2-year cycling partnership between Nationale Loterij and Mobistar?
The partnership with Mobistar is over. The team is already looking down the
barrel for next year as it has lost UCI-points and will be fighting for a
wildcard entry to the Tour.

Eight riders have a contract for next season: Tchmil, Aerts, Van De Wouwer,
Verbrugghe, Verheyen, L'Hoir, Durand and Jean-Denis Vandenbroucke (son of
Jean-Luc).
Nationale Loterij take care for 70 million BEF, Mobistar 35 million and the
third partner, Berry Floor, 15 million. Without Mobistar the budget isn't
enough anymore for running an A-team.

David Plaza quits over pay

Sport Lisboa Benfica rider David Plaza quit the Vuelta after Stage 1 because
he was depressed over pay disputes with Benfica. He has not been happy with
the team and has received new offers from Pecol, Maia and Festina. It seems
that Portugal's labour laws will require Plaza to recompense the team to exit
from his contract.

Meanwhile, Benfica announced the next day that they will begin disciplinary
proceedings against the Spaniard. They allege that Plaza made public
statements to the press about his withdrawal from the Vuelta which
"gravely harmed the image and objectives of the team". They have also
said that Plaza's representative had presented them with "exaggerated
financial requirements to renew his contract" which expired on December 2000.
They said his actions showed "an intolerable lack of respect for the
company that he represents and his teammates". Apparently Plaza and his
representative had "more promising offers from other teams" and Benfica
refused to negotiate "under the pressure from any athlete or his representative".

Thierry Claveyrolat dead

former French professional cyclist Thierry Claveyrolat who was 40
years of age has committed suicide at his home in Notre-Dame-de-Mesage
(Isère) according to reports issued by the police on Tuesday.
The alert to police was given at 6.45 this morning by his wife.
The former winner of the climber's jersey in the 1990 Tour de France
was recently responsible for a traffic accident which left 4 people
seriously injured on August 13. He was very affected by the accident and
took his own life.

Australian riders in brawl

Stuart O’Grady and his partner, Henk Vogels, and British rider David Millar
were involved in a fracas in Toulouse over the weekend. Apparently, 3 men
took exception to O'Grady and attempted to steal jewellery from them.
O'Grady pushed on the assailants against a parked car and he was hit with
a metal object. O'Grady fell down semi-unconscious. His partner went to his
assistance and was also assaulted. The other two knocked Vogels
unconscious and punched Millar. One of the attackers was later detained by
police and will face assault charges.

O'Grady is still under observation in a French hospital but is reported to
be in good spirits. His doctors won't allow him to go home yet because they
want to ensure there are no further complications. He has been warned off
competing in the Worlds next month. He has to rest for 30 days as he has
two small skull fractures.

Pantani still troubled by knee

Italian Marco Pantani will be examined by a doctor today to see why his knee
is still giving him pain. He will see Dr. Terragnoli who will investigate
the inflammation in the ilio-tibial band which has prevented Pantani
from resuming racing in preparation for the World Championships.

Rival MTB group in Australia up and running

In an effort to bypass the incompetence of Cycling Australia
(Australian Cycling Federation), a group of MTB'ers have broken free of CA
and are running their own MTB organisation. The new MTBA is now incorporated
in the ACT. It has an official postal address where correspondence should
be addressed to:

Dutch MTB team for worlds

National coach Leo van Zeeland has selected the MTB team to contest the
World MTB championships from September 11-18 in Sweden. For the Cross Country
title Bas van Dooren, Bart Brentjens and Patrick Tolhoek are likely to
figure well in the final assessment. In the downhill, Gerwin Peters is a
strong favourite. The cross country team is: Bart Brentjens, Bas van Dooren, Gerben
de Knegt, Bas Peters, Patrick Tolhoek, Micha de Vries and Jan Weevers.

Its nearly time for Cyclo Cross!

The 1999 SuperCup Cyclo-Cross schedule in the USA includes seven stops,
including the finals, December 12, in San Francisco.

"I am extremely excited about the prospects for this year of the Super Cup
Cyclo-cross series," said Lyle Fulkerson, organizer for the SuperCup
Series. "The Americans excelled at the 1999 World Championships, and the
sport of cyclo-cross is on the rise. We have added two new venues (New York
and Portland) and many of the venues are using the SuperCup for grass roots
racing. We are also excited that all seven races are UCI (international
cycling federation) sanctioned."

"The SuperCup series has played a large role in the development of U.S.
riders both domestically and internationally," said Evan Call, U.S. Cycling
Federation Managing Director. "Our performances at this year's world
championship are a testimony to the importance of this series. This series
provides cyclists more opportunities to compete against the best in the
country, and we have seen an increase in the number of competitors."

Now in its fourth season, the campaign kicks of October 17 in Boston,
Mass., followed two weeks later with a stop in Long Island, N.Y. (October
23). The third event of the season occurs November 7 in Boulder, Colo.,
while Chicago will host the fourth stop of the series on November 13.

The fifth event is slated for Seattle, Wash. on Nov. 20, followed by
Portland, Ore. on December 4. The SuperCup Finals will be run in
conjunction with the USCF National Cyclo-Cross Championships (Dec. 10-11).

Defending national under-23 champion Tim Johnson (Middleton, Mass.) became
the first U.S. cyclist to win a medal in the 50-year history of the World
Cyclo-Cross Championships with his bronze medal performance earlier this
year in Poprad, Slovakia. The following day, Matt Kelly (Johnson Creek,
Wis.), who placed third in the SuperCup junior men's competition, collected
the world championship.

In addition, the 2000 World Cyclo-Cross Championships (January 29-30, St.
Michielsgestel, Netherlands) marks the debut for the women's competition.

Date Location
October 17 Boston, Mass.
October 23 Long Island, N.Y.
November 7 Boulder, Colo.
November 13 Chicago
November 20 Seattle, Wash.
December 4 Portland, Ore.
December 12 San Francisco

Hard to believe really ...

This article was written by Peter Carlson of the Washington Post and was
published on September 3, 1999 under the headline "Entrepreneur fills a
need".

Kenneth Curtis is the kind of creative, can-do American
entrepreneur that made this country what it is today. He saw a need, created
a product, built a business. But now Big Government is on his back. The
politicians just don't like what he's selling. Which is urine. His own.

For $69, plus postage, Curtis sells five ounces of his urine in a little
plastic bag, along with 30 inches of plastic tubing and a tiny heat pack
designed to keep his fluid at body temperature. Taped to the body, this
"urine test substitution kit" enables customers to pass off his urine for
their own during workplace drug tests.

"I've never had a customer fail a test," he says. "I'm very proud of
that."

Curtis, 40, was a pipe fitter in Greenville, S.C., when he started his urine
business four years ago. Every time he signed on with a new construction
contractor, he had to be tested. He always passed - he doesn't use drugs -
but the testing irked him. He considered it an unconstitutional violation of
his privacy.

"I was being tested a dozen times a year," he says. "I found it very
invasive."

So he decided to fight back. He developed his kit and founded a company,
Privacy Protection Services, to sell it. He set up a Web site that
advertises his, um, product, with a patriotic appeal, complete with waving
American flags and an essay on the Fourth Amendment. He's not selling urine,
his site proclaims; he's selling privacy, freedom, and the American Way of
Life. He's sold thousands of the kits, he claims, although he won't say how
many thousands.

Last spring, irate that Curtis's kit could foil drug tests, South Carolina
state Senator David Thomas drafted a bill to ban the sale of urine. The bill
carried a penalty of five years in prison for selling urine - or even giving
it away - with the intention of defrauding a drug test. Texas, Nebraska, and
Pennsylvania had already enacted similar bans.

The bill became law in June. To test it, Curtis walked into the Greenville
police headquarters and ceremoniously presented one of his urine kits to a
sheriff's deputy. The cops huddled with a lawyer and then decided not to
arrest Curtis, claiming his publicity stunt didn't violate the law because
the deputy who received the urine had no intention of defrauding a drug
test.